Thursday, November 18, 2021

62. The Revelation: The Extermination of the Harlot (Revelation 17:16-17)



"And the ten horns which you saw, and the beast, these will hate the harlot and will make her desolate and naked, and will eat her flesh and will burn her up with fire. For God has put it in their hearts to execute His purpose by having a common purpose, and by giving their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God will be fulfilled." (Rev. 17:16–17)

Antichrist’s alliance with the false religious system will not last. Eventually the ten horns (the ten kings) and the beast (Antichrist) will hate the harlot. Having used the false religious system to help him gain control of the world, Antichrist will discard it. He will want the world to worship only him. He will turn on the harlot and will make her “desolate and naked, and will eat her flesh and will burn her up with fire.” That graphic language of extreme violence is used to make clear that Antichrist and his henchmen will completely obliterate the false religious system.

Yet Antichrist’s self-serving, satanically inspired actions are precisely in the scope of God’s sovereign plan. In fact, it is God who will put it in the hearts of Antichrist’s followers to execute His purpose by giving their kingdom to the beast. God’s power is behind the destruction and consolidation of the evil empire. As always, Satan is the instrument of God’s purposes. The one-world unification government so long sought by the humanists will have finally arrived, only to be destroyed in one great act of divine judgment. All prophecy of Christ’s return and the setting up of His kingdom—will be fulfilled completely.